ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired Captain Muhammad Safdar on Wednesday appeared before an accountability court for the trial proceedings in the references filed against them.

The former premier along with his daughter reached the court from Punjab House amid tight security, while Safdar reached there separately.

This is the first hearing of the three references filed against the Sharif family by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after winter holidays.

Judge Muhammad Bashir is recording testimonies of more prosecution witness, who will be cross-examined by defense counsel Khawaja Haris.

The court has so far recorded testimonies of nine witnesses against the Sharif family. At the previous hearing, the accountability judge recorded statements of three witnesses.

Prosecution witness NAB’s additional director Shakeel Anjum Nagra told the court that he received attested/certified copies of the JIT report from the apex court and handed them over to the NAB.

Yasir Shabbir, an official of the Muslim Commercial Bank, told the judge that he provided record of several transactions of the former premier to the bureau. When cross-examined, he said he did not see any irregularities in these transactions.